Premier Zille to Conduct Oversight Visits to 110% Green Projects

110% Green Tour: Premier Helen Zille to conduct oversight visits to 110% Green Projects

This weekend, Saturday 27 September & Sunday 28 September 2014, Premier Helen Zille, will take part in a 110% Green Oversight Tour. The tour will comprise of visits to some of the Western Cape 110% Green flagship programmes and initiatives in the Cape Winelands District Municipality. The Premier will also canoe down the Berg River as part of the oversight visit.  

110% Green is an initiative of the Western Cape Government – launched in 2012 by Premier Zille – that encourages organisations to make a contribution to growing the Green Economy. 110% Green acts as a catalyst to build a critical mass of activity that puts the Western Cape well on the road to becoming Africa’s Green Economic Hub. Since inception, 110% Green has signed up at least 120 flagship programmes across the province, that not only promote the Green Economy, but create job opportunities in the process.

The Western Cape Government is also focused on making it easier for organisations to go green and maintain this commitment.

The 110% Green Oversight Tour is therefore an opportunity for Premier Zille to visit some of the 110% Green flagships, to see what progress has been made since the launch of the programme.  Her visit will also include projects that are focused on coming up with innovative solutions to deal with water pollution in the Berg River and which involves the surrounding community.

The tour  will comprise of visits to 5 key sites in the Cape Winelands. The details are as follows:

Day 1: Saturday 27 September 2014

1.     AgriProtein: Conversion of sewage into magmeal with Black Soldier Fly (BSF)

This nutrient recycling bioconversion process utilises waste food as raw materials and generates valuable feed components: an insect based protein meal - MagMeal™, an extracted fat - MagOil™ and a nutrient rich soil conditioner - MagSoil™. AgriProtein is running the BioCycle plant which has just opened in Klipheuwel.

BioCycle is a sustainable business, developing commercially viable and scalable processes for the bio-conversion of human faecal waste into valuable products, using Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae. The project was launched in 2009 with the support of Stellenbosch University. It has grown to currently employ 20 people and will be expanding the operation significantly to a large scale factory processing 110 tonnes of organic waste a day by February 2016. This will create an additional 80 job opportunities. 11 factories are also planned to open by 2020.

All members of the media are invited to attend.

Time: 09:00
Venue: Elsenburg, Stellenbosch Research Facility

2.     Listen, Live & Learn: Innovative, sustainable living system for students

In this initiative, Themed Houses, create unique opportunities for education within living spaces. Students are able to communicate and engage collaboratively with peers, donors, academics, politicians, other institutions, visitors to the university, the Rectorate and the community at large – to promote a live and learn cohort that becomes an innovative “think tank”. The Listen, Live & Learn Village has capacity for 115 students while the programme as a whole is home to 165 students.  While it was launched in 2007, in January 2013 the ground was broken for the building of the new Village which will double the project’s capacity.

All members of the media are invited to attend.

Time:     10:30
Venue:    Admin A, Ryneveld st, Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch University

3.     Genius of Place: Using biomimicry and ecological services to solve waste water and solid waste issues in the Langrug community

The Langrug Bioremediation project was launched in December 2013 and is aimed to reducing water pollution in the area, in particular in the Berg River. The initial phase focused on working with the community to inform and creating awareness regarding the problem of storm water, and the use of the storm water system for the disposal of grey water. The initial phase also included the development of a detailed design and strategy to address the environmental and health concerns regarding the contaminated water which often forms stagnant pools within the community and enters the storm water system, which flows into the Berg River. The community, through constant engagement, were afforded the opportunity to fully participate in the design process and understand the project needs and outcomes. Currently, the project is in a process of appointing a service provider who will be responsible for the testing and full implementation of the design and strategy and for educating and training members from the local community so that they can become involved in the maintenance and operational requirements of the project.

All members of the media are invited to attend.

Time:     12:30
Venue:    Langrug, Franschhoek

4.     Meulwater Water Treatment Works: Innovative potable water treatment facility (looks to reduce energy)

Significant challenges had to be overcome to provide a solution for the water needs for Drakenstein municipality in an extremely sensitive environmental area. The plant was designed and built with careful attention to blend in with the surrounding environment. The project was launched in 2012 by Local Government Minster Anton Bredell and currently employs 40 people.                 

All members of the media are invited to attend.

Time:    16:00
Venue:    Latitude 33° 43' 57" S / Longitude 18° 56' 47" E  - Paarl

DAY 2: SUNDAY 28 SEPTEMEBR 2014

1.     Alien vegetation clearing: Clearing and chipping

The ultimate aim of this project is to restore the most important river system, namely the Berg River, in the Cape Town Metro pole area, to a healthy river system that will promote human wellbeing by reducing the vulnerability of very real flooding risks associated with climate change. This project is to investigate the biomass use and form and find market opportunities for the biomass. This project directly benefits all farmers using water from the Berg River, all the farm workers, all industries adding value to that produce and the very sensitive export market. 114 people are employed by the private sector due to the implementation of this project. The aim is to make this project expand to the entire river creating an economic (tourism and agriculture), ecological (endemic plants and filter systems and social (access to all the public) corridor the entire length of the river and recognise the cultural corridor as used but Bushman years ago.  

Time:    12:30
Venue:    Between Gensplaas & Bothmansdrift Farm, Outside Wellington.

This visit will conclude the 110% Green Tour.